Alex
Welcome to Paper Defiance, a fortnightly podcast all about indie bookshops and their owners. My name is Alex, and I am recording this on Wadawaurang land, in Ballarat Australia. It’s exciting to have you join me.
Today’s interview is with Monica, who at 56 years in the bookselling business is the longest-standing person in the business I’ve spoken to so far. Let me repeat that: she started the Hellenic Book Service 56 years ago. Our chat ranges over how she got into bookselling, some of her experiences in doing so, and the fact that Virgil is still popular although if you ask me I couldn’t tell you why. Also we get in a Black Books reference.
I should note that Monica’s audio does go fuzzy once or twice, and there are occasionally some voices in the background, but I trust that nonetheless you’ll find the interview as absolutely fascinating as I did.
Just before we jump into the interview, two bits of housekeeping. First, a reminder that you can find not only audio but also transcripts of every interview, and pictures of each of the shops featured, over on paper defiance.com . And second, the podcast is taking a short hiatus over the summer – my summer, that is, you northern hemisphere folks. So let’s call this season 1. Season 1 has featured 9 bookshops – two in the US, two in England, two in Australian capital cities and three in regional Victoria. The tenth episode was of course my chat with Garth Nix, about his experiences in the book trade and his novels about booksellers who also use magic. So we’ll reconvene for season 2 in February. And if you have a favourite bookshop you’d like to tell people about, send an audio message to paper Defiance pod @gmail dot com and you might find it included in an upcoming episode.
Now, over to Monica.
Monica
My name is Monica Williams. I used to be Constantinou before I was married, which is – that’s why it’s a Greek name. And the bookshop is called Hellenic Book Service which I started in Charing Cross Road in 1966.
Alexandra
1966! Monica that’s, I have a lot of questions about what you’ve just said. Firstly, 1966! That’s a long time.
Monica
I know it is. I know. And it was a very interesting – because in Charing Cross Road, we had Foyle’s opposite; Waterstones came after me. And it was very much just modern Greek at that time; I started Latin years ago, and I still have customers that remember it – can imagine – as this wonderful little pokey bookshop that people loved. And it was, it was a street which was very famous for bookshops. And we were very small, but we were absolutely up to the rafters.
Alexandra
All right, let’s go right back to the start. Why did you start the bookshop in 1966? What – so firstly, why so specifically about Greek literature?
Monica
My mother and father were Greek. They came over from Cyprus, but they were very educated. And my mother actually wrote a phrase book on Greek. My father was a musician and a teacher. And my mother started another bookshop in 1944, when I was a baby, called Zeno. And he treated her very badly because she did all the work, which – she was brilliant, you know, and she wrote her own phrasebook. And then, in 1964, he decided he no longer wanted her and gave her the sack when she was in Greece on business, came back and she decided to start her own, but we had no money. So she went into the British Museum and cataloged all the books there – the British, no the British Library – modern Greek, which was quite a feat. And then we took a risk. We started this shop, I had two young children, a husband that wasn’t interested. But I used to travel quite a long way to work every day. And we started it with nothing. Absolutely nothing, which you couldn’t do nowadays, I don’t think.
Alexandra
That sounds like it would have been a really remarkable, you know, from the get go, that must have been very difficult, I imagine.
Monica
Yeah. And in those days, we didn’t have computers like we have now. The first thing I did was to join the Booksellers Association, which was marvelous. And they were great help – like you needed them for insurance and things like this. I mean, I was – I knew nothing about it at all, although I was a school librarian, but I mean, that’s beside the point; alays been a reader. But it was just difficult, very difficult, especially with two young children. But I am, I’m very good on research, thank goodness. So I managed to find things; we used to use Whittaker’s, I don’t know if you’ve come across – four volume books, that’s how I used to look up books, which was a nightmare, which when customers came in, it took a long time.
Alexandra
So you start with modern Greek literature. And I believe you then expanded into ancient Greek as well?
Monica
Ancient Greek, Latin later on. And I’m also a school supplier on every subject. And I’ve got a new I’ve got a new motto now: Amazon’s in competition with us. You’ve got to have a laugh, haven’t you.
Alexandra
So expanding into quote unquote, the classics: was that because you saw a demand for it to be properly supplied?
Monica
Sort of. I was in Charing Cross Road, ppposite Waterstones as I say – they came after me – for 24 years. And somebody came in for a Latin book. And I, at that time, everything was in central London. So I went to Heinemann, which were the publishers, and got a couple of Latin. And that’s how I started. I’ve never done Latin before. And I built it up from nothing. And then we did ancient Greek. And then when we moved here, the landlord threatened us. And because I was a partnership, I would have gone to court and I’d most likely have won, because I’m quite good on things like this, but realised that it was just too much. So we came where we are now. And I didn’t, I had to start all over again. And I went through the Yellow Pages – I don’t know if you know what the Yellow Pages are – in those days and I emailed schools, I did this – which you can’t do now, because of the Acts, you know, you’re not allowed to sort of approach schools. And I did it cold and I managed to break in – but what happened originally, I had a lovely lady come into the shop called Miss Plato. And she worked at Queens College. And she said, I said, How do I get myself known? And she said, I’ll tell you what, why don’t you come to one of our open days There’s going to be a talk on classics for somebody going to Reading and you can come in and listen. So I went along. But before I went along, I had a phone call from them to say, our guest speaker is delayed on the train – a man called Peter Jones, who was very famous in the classics world. And he’s going to be late; could you come a bit earlier? So I became the guest speaker with no, with no script, nothing. Mind you, that was quite good. Because if I’d had to rehearse it, you know, you’d sit there and you edit and everything. So I stood up in front of all these teachers and just talked and thought, Oh, my God, what am I doing? I didn’t know what I was saying. Sat down, thought thank goodness for that. At the end of it, a lady slipped a piece of paper to me and said, Could you do an exhibition for the ARLT for us? I have no idea what the ARLT was. So I said, Yes, of course I can. And the ARLT was the Association for Reform of Latin Teaching. And that’s how I started. And I’ve not looked backwards with them, I still do exhibitions for them. Everywhere I go, the teachers recommend teachers to me, but of course at the moment with bursars, who’ve got to justify their wages, etc – they go where they want, they go to Amazon, a lot of people go to Amazon, or they go to books that give enormous discounts, which I can’t compete with. But I know my way around the book world. I know absolutely everything about the book world. And I’m married to a man that worked for Cambridge University Press. So I know the publishing side – who was my rep. I married him, he says, to get better discounts. You can see I’m a lark, can’t you?
Alexandra
Monica, your original shop in 1966. Tell me about the space itself. Was it very big? Or was it quite small?
Monica
No, it was very small. It was in Charing Cross Road. There was a music shop next door. There was a book – a film made about 84 Charing Cross Road, but mine was much more interesting because I had so many famous people come in, people like Alec Guinness. And how I got started again, is in those days, reps got commission, and it was no computers. So I used to send my orders to their houses. And then people now said, How is it you’re doing so well, with Penguin for instance? Well, my rep became managing director of Penguin. And because I get on with people, and I’ve always gone out of my way, and I treat everybody the same, it’s worked for me. You know, I don’t do things to help – you know, I do things to help people. And I get a lot of help back.
Alexandra
What was your original space like?
Monica
Very small, very small, it was – absolutely floor to ceiling. People still remember it as being fascinating. It was just very small. Absolutely. You know, I fought with my mother, who used to keep every bit of string; did it with my mother. But she was very good. But I was the one that was doing the research and everything.
Alexandra
The person who recommended you to me remembers you as having a mailing service?
Monica
Yes, we have that. Who recommended us, by the way, Alex?
Alexandra
Someone called Fred, who used to listen to a podcast that I did a very long time ago.
Monica
Not Fred Pragnel [?]?
Alexandra
I don’t think so.
Monica
We’ve got some very loyal customers. Very loyal. Absolutely.
Alexandra
So why did you get into the sending out books rather than just having people come into the shop?
Monica
Because I had to survive. I had to survive. So I had to put books – I mean, our website, we’ve had lots of problems with it, because we couldn’t afford to do it properly. But we had to do it. And we realised that we had to send out. So I do – Istarted doing a lot of exhibitions. And I mean, big exhibitions, on invitation. And they were a lot of work, and it kept me going.
Alexandra
So you said you’ve moved from your original space. Where are you now?
Monica
I’m in Kentish Town, Tufnell Park, Northwest five. When we moved here, it wasn’t a very nice area, but is now become a very twee area. You know how it is in London. Do you know London?
Alexandra
A little bit – I’ve visited a couple of times. I think I’ve been around that area and it’s I guess gentrified would be the word to use.
Monica
Yeah, we have a bus stop. It’s a main road going up to Arch – we’re going up the A1 – I don’t know. It’s a main road, very easy to get here.
Alexandra
And what’s your space like now? Is it much bigger than your old?
Monica
It’s quite big. We’re on two floors. It gets a little bit difficult in the summer when we’re doing school supplies because I managed – through my classics, I asked everybody, don’t forget we can do anything and I’m doing a big school and last year after COVID they saved us: I did physics, chemistry, biology, history, economics, computer science, you name it – Italian, French. My staff are very good. But all the books come in together and you’re trying to load them up. Then you’ve got to get extended credit. You’ve got to get the space. It’s a lot of problems in running a bookshop, but I have you know, it’s good.
Alexandra
Do you have a lot of people who just walk past your shop and come in?
Monica
Not at the moment, no, they’re beginning to – with COVID it was terrible because nobody could come anywhere near it. We lost a lot of trade. But we’re getting a lot of people traveling. We have people – I mean, I send books to Australia. I send books to America, I supply schools in – supply books in Dubai, Hong Kong. All on recommendation. That is the – we are school suppliers. So what I did actually, Alex, I didn’t know my way around, I joined the – through the Booksellers Association, I joined the school suppliers committee, I had no idea what I was doing. And it was quite frightening because I had big people on there, you know, and we had to sit around a boardroom and say, how much we’d done that year – was quite difficult, you know, there’s me, a lone person, but I realised I knew a lot more than they did, because in a big bookshop, you know, everybody does their own department; I’m used to being able to do everything, and it’s worked. The biggest problem now is that the the big people give so much discount that you can’t compete with them. But because I’m getting the volume now, I can compete quite well, because I built it up from nothing. And I can compete with most people – or we can, should I say, the Hellenic can.
Alexandra
Behind you, I can see on your board, “keep calm and read the classics”, which is fantastic, of course.
Monica
Yes – we’ve got, we do posters, we do our own pencils, I’ve now got our own tote bag, pencils. We used to import. So we do a lot of our own posters, pencils, various – lots of things. It’s a shame you can’t come and see, you have to come over.
Alexandra
One day, one day, I’ll get back there.
Monica
But I do – it’s the exhibitions, you see, I did four this year, three in the same week, and I traveled about 1000 miles. And I had to do it, I had to actually organise it in order to do it. This first one were for teachers. And that was quite small. The second one was for adults, which I’ve been doing for many years, which – and the third one was what they call the Latin bootcamp. And the fourth one was a Greek one. The Latin bootcamp used to be in Somerset and I thought, poor kids. They love it. They can’t wait to grab the books from my boxes. But I have to hire a van. I take so many books. It’s – I have a lot of books.
Alexandra
In the Latin selection, what sorts of things are selling these days? Are they language primers and dictionaries?
Monica
Learning the language, then we have people who are in groups, learning it, and then we have people interested in the language, you know, for Latin, all the Latin authors. Then we have the Greek authors, and we have everything secondhand. So we do philosophy, mythology, things on Pompeii. Just trying to think – so Latin learning is very popular. And then you get all the Latin – you’ve got Virgil’s very popular for instance. And then in Greek, you have Homer, Iliad, Euripides. So you’ve got the Greek – the Greek tragedy and the comedy.
Alexandra
And are you selling a lot of that in the original language as well as in translation?
Monica
Yes, we’re selling it in the original. We’re very unique in that way. There’s no one like us, we’re told. And downstairs, we’ve been told so many times, it’s a treasure trove, we’ve nicknamed it the treasure trove. And people come in and say, Oh, what a treasure trove – it really is. What we’re trying to do is to get more people in.
Alexandra
I can still remember the first time I walked into – I think it was somewhere in Oxford and I don’t even remember the name of the bookshop now – but they had an entire wall of the Loeb library.
Monica
I have as well.
Alexandra
And I, I had never seen all of them in one place before and it was just stunning. To see all of that green and red in one place.
Monica
It must have been Blackwell’s who I used to work – I know Peter there.
Alexandra
I think it probably was.
Monica
But no, I have all the Loebs, secondhand and new. And then we have translations. We have all the Penguins – tremendous range of books far too much. And the second hand is wonderful as well.
Alexandra
And are you getting the second hand like from university students and those sorts of things?
Monica
Yes, university – people that you know, I go quite long distance – and then we have the modern Greek, people learning the language. That is where we, you know, like you in Australia, we supply – anybody learning the language, if they’re married to a Greek. The thing that didn’t do because of COVID was to travel, but I think that’s coming back.
Alexandra
So Monica, you’ve been in the business for a long time, and you’ve seen lots of different pieces of it. I kind of want to ask, What do you think the biggest changes have been, but maybe that’s too big a question. Is it too big a question?
Monica
Um, no… I like the changes. But a lot of people thought that with books with – you know, with computers, that books wouldn’t sell. But they are selling, which is strange and we thought that ebooks would take over but they haven’t. Have other bookshop said that they’re doing well, with eBooks?
Alexandra
No, a lot of book shops are saying that people are still loving physical books.
Monica
They prefer physical books. But as you say, I do everything, so I mean, I do absolutely every subject. And I also do research – so people come in and ask me for difficult book. And they say, I know you’re the person to ask because I find books, nobody else seems to be able to find.
Alexandra
That is a wonderful skill.
Monica
And I’ve got the gift of the gab.
Alexandra
So obviously, people are still interested in buying books over that whole time. Do you feel like people are interested in different sorts of topics? Or are you still seeing, you know, the popularity of Virgil, the popularity of Homer has continued over that whole time.
Monica
It has continued. And people are still very interested in mythology, we get a lot of people coming in for children’s books. I mean, it’s such a wide subject… any film, or anything like that, loves coming in here because of all the material. We had somebody come in and film something here for something. Downstairs we have history, ancient – like Roman Britain. And then we have a war for section – we now have the women, I call it my pornography section, the women – I mean, one of our books now, Pandora’s Box, Natalie Haynes, very popular some of our books now, I don’t know if you know a lady called Pat Barker?
Alexandra
Yes. My mum gave me The Silence of the Girls for Christmas a couple of years ago.
Monica
That’s right. So that’s the type of books we sell. Very popular. So although we’re specialist, somebody come in here looking for something will always find something. And then I can get any book in print. So if we get anybody coming in, we’ll say to them, we can get any book you want.
Alexandra
Monica, do you think that you have a favourite part of being a bookseller? Is there one thing in particular that keeps you going?
Monica
Meeting people. I love people. I mean, people have often said to me, why don’t you just go into a warehouse: I don’t want to. I like a shop. And it’s so diverse. I have problems now you see, because I import and I don’t know if it’s the same with Australia: a big parcel costs 150 pounds from Greece, in postage, and then another 150 pounds in duty. We’ve got duty on it because of good old Brexit. So you try and imagine – my Greek books are very expensive. I’ve got no choice. But then we do – I get in Greek – because I’m a reader, I get all the books I like, I do them into Greek. So I read all my crime books, you know, I’m into crime. What do you like?
Alexandra
I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, which means there’s a lot of crossover – there’s a lot of Greek mythology.
Monica
You’ve got Dune was the original one, wasn’t it? Yeah.
Alexandra
I don’t know much about what’s coming out of Greece these days. What’s the book scene like in Greece? Are there lots of up and coming authors?
Monica
Very popular, very expensive, a lot of translations. So anything you can get in this country I get in Greek. So if I get a book I like – I mean, I just bought Birdsong for instance, in Greek; Dickens, I get all the popular stuff. So when people come in, we’ve got the full range of anything.
Alexandra
And are there modern Greek authors who are popular?
Monica
There’s some very good modern Greek authors – a couple of very good detective writers. And people come from all over the world because they know that they say, can you get something, or they’ll wait for it?
Alexandra
Are there things that have surprised – no, that’s a silly question. What things have surprised you as a bookseller? What were you not expecting when you first got into it?
Monica
To be still around? When COVID was on, and we had to close the shop, I was getting books delivered to home, and then bringing them to work. Looking at – first of all, we closed the website, and then I realised I could still use the website, and I was going to the post office – on my back, Postman Pat – to keep it going.
Alexandra
I kind of feel like you’ve already answered this question, but I’ll ask it anyway. Why do people like physical bookshops, do you think?
Monica
They like to touch books. I think it’s like the same as a lot of people buy clothes online. I like to touch clothes. If you go into a shop, I don’t know if you do it – people tend to touch them, don’t they, as you walk through. Well, people like to pick up a book and look at it. And my secondhand – because I’ve got some very old books. People like books. They like the feel of them. Well, I do. What do you think?
Alexandra
I love looking at the range of the colors and the covers and all of those sorts of things.
Monica
I still belong to the library. I support my library. I’m on the committee of the library because you know we need to do that.
Alexandra
Aside from COVID, because that – was obviously, has been just an ongoing problem, what are some of the difficult things that you’ve experienced over your career?
Monica
Trying to get extended credit. Trying to get bigger discounts. Because if you don’t get extended credit – we order a book say, in July, or August, to be delivered in September, we won’t get paid til October. So if we don’t have extended credit, we can’t pay the publishers in time. But I’ve managed that – this is what you have to do – because I know my way around now. It’s difficult for somebody starting to get this. The other difficult thing… what else is difficult? Discounts. Although again, because of the volume I do – we’ve only got one distributor now; we used to have Gardeners and Bertrams. It was better when we had the two. But Gardeners are very good. So we have accounts with everyone. So if anybody orders anything – every time I get an inquiry, and I get some strange ones like I had a book on dyslexia the other day, or I might get a book on learning material, you know, I’ll do everything – I try to open accounts with them, so I get the better deal. Because otherwise, I’ve got to put the prices up, which I try not to.
Alexandra
Do banks take bookshop seriously?
Monica
Well, I’ve been with the same bank, I wouldn’t like to try and move at the moment because people aren’t lending money; at the moment we’re all right. But I would not try and move my bank. I mean, there’s so many businesses closing, but there’s so many expenses, Alex in running a bookshop, it’s new computers, and you have to pay for electricity, you have to pay for Sage, which is the account system which keeps breaking down, you then have to have the machines for taking the money – everyone takes their percentage; everything is chargeable, you know? At the moment, I’m having my boiler downstairs sorted out.
Alexandra
Do you think that the switch to having computers and being able to search for things easily – has that overall been a positive, do you think, for you?
Monica
Oh, definitely. Definitely. I mean, I use computers, even when I’m reading a book now. No wonder, you know, look things up all the time. I mean, you know, I do this all the time. And it hasn’t, funnily enough, detracted from books, because it’s only people who are just looking up an expression or something like that, or an article.
Alexandra
Monica, I am wondering what you are currently reading.
Monica
Rebus. I’m reading a book on Scotland, what do you call him, you know I’ve forgotten what it’s called. Scottish writer, set in Edinburgh. And it shows you that Edinburgh is not the good place it is they think it is because it’s full of crime.
Alexandra
Right – sounds like fun. Are you reading that in English?
Monica
Oh, yes. Yeah, I read in English, Greek is my second language. I was born here.
Alexandra
Do you try and read books in Greek as well, just to keep your hand in?
Monica
I try to. But I’m a very fast reader. So I get very exasperated because I can read – over the years I read – you know what I mean – I used to be, oh that was the other thing, I was an antiquarian bookseller. I used to go to Sotheby’s and bid for people.
Alexandra
I kind of want to ask about the exciting books that have passed through your hands.
Monica
Oh, I’ve had some very exciting books pass through my hands, you know? Yeah. I’ve also – when I was in Charing Cross Road, we had a thief come in and pinch things and sell them. And then the police came in to investigate, because they were very valuable books.
Alexandra
What sort of books were getting nicked?
Monica
Antiquarian books. And books on Ancient Greece, there’s maps in them; travels. All sorts of things – you know, leather bound books, things like this. They’re worth a lot. They were worth a lot of money.
Alexandra
Things that look expensive.
Monica
I mean, we’ve had people coming into the shop. And they’re not buying books by the subject. They want to make their home look nice. So they buy – “we want a load of leather books, to decorate our room” – you know, this sort of thing. Or somebody wants to do something on a stage. So they want something like that.
Alexandra
Did you ever see the TV show Black Books?
Monica
Yes. Good, wasn’t it?
Alexandra
There was an entire section of one of those episodes where a man comes in and says, Are they real leather? They have to match my couch.
Monica
Exactly!
Alexandra
You’re telling me that that has actually happened?
Monica
Oh, yes.
Alexandra
No! That’s terrible.
Monica
And we still do. We’ve had people come in – they really do – they come in and buy books so that they look nice on the shelf. I know.
Alexandra
I’m a bit gobsmacked. As someone who’s spent a lot of times in secondhand bookshops and I have a lot of books with cracked spines and all those sorts of things and I love them. The idea of buying for a look is just really weird.
Monica
But when I do my summer schools, my kids – my youngsters – they buy the one pound books, they love them. You know? It’s so nice. I like young people. And the young people, because I like them, they can tell; they respond.
Alexandra
And the exhibitions you’re doing for kids, are they the schoolbooks or are they of your classics?
Monica
They are – the Latin bootcamp, for instance, is – I think I had 180 this year, it grew. They are children, these are 16 to 18 year olds, and I thought poor youngsters; they love it; it’s a two week course. And when I go to Durham, which is the Summer School for adults, they wait for me and I put the books away and when I come back in the morning, they’re all piled up in piles. I wish I could do that all the time. People condemn youngsters, there’s some smashers around. We’re very lucky in here, Alex, because the people we get in here are lovely. And it has nothing to do with money. It’s just that people they – they’ve got a spark about them. We get very, very few difficult people. You get the odd one. But then – yeah.
Alexandra
And you said you have a lot of repeat custom as well over the years.
Monica
Yes.
Alexandra
Does that surprise you, that people are loyal? Or is that something that just makes sense?
Monica
No. Because we give such a good service. They tell us that. I get lots of emails saying how wonderful we are. I mean, the shop’s like being on an ego trip, sometimes. I mean, I get thanks – I just want customers to come in and people are still unaware of us.
Alexandra
What was it like setting up a website? Has that been a good thing?
Monica
Difficult. We need to find the money to set up a new one. Because we can’t afford it at the moment.
Alexandra
Do you think it’s necessary for you?
Monica
Oh, yes, we couldn’t survive, because we’ve got a website and people order on it. It’s a safe and secure, which is costing money; it’s very secure, people order from us, and they get the books and we use couriers, and we send the books so we give a very good service. But not all the secondhand are on there. A lot of our new books are on there. If you look at it under the subjects – we have a philosophy section. That’s another section – theology.
Alexandra
Do you have a favourite section?
Monica
Favourite section…novels. I read a lot. I think it’s because it’s like working in a sugar company. I’m doing an exhibition, which I’ve been invited to do for one of our authors at the Hellenic Centre next week. And the author specifically asked that – wanted me to go and take his books, which is nice, isn’t it? I mean, this is a person that writes for The Spectator, The Economist; I mean, I thought that was flattering. And they weren’t very happy about it. But he insisted, because they wanted to do their own thing at this place.
Alexandra
Your current bookshop, do you have a favourite space in your shop? Or do you just love the whole place?
Monica
I love the whole thing. But what is very popular are the children’s books, we get lots of parents coming in for children’s books, it could be mythology, we’ve got all the books in for children in Greek as well. So very, very popular. And we bring a lot of books from Greece, we say, on every subject again.
Alexandra
And do you have lots of parents and grandparents buying in Greek to try and encourage their kids?
Monica
Yes.
Alexandra
I went to school with a lot of kids who had to do Greek school on Saturday mornings.
Monica
They still do, but they don’t get the books anymore from Greece. And they’re trying to cope, but we’re doing a Greek school, a nursery school in a couple of weeks, taking some books along. Yes, I mean, we’re thinking of doing some more exhibitions here in the shop; it’s quite big, the shop. But gradually.
Alexandra
Monica, my last question for you is, do you think you’re going to keep going as a bookseller for the foreseeable future?
Monica
As long as I can.
Amy
Hi, I’m Amy and one of my favorite book shops is called John Sandoe Books Limited. The affair began on a wet spring day near, if I remember correctly, the beginning of April. I do remember that day vividly because it was my birthday. So yeah, it was definitely the beginning of April. And I was taken to the secret-to-me location to pick out one book. I left with five because it was my birthday. But this was a special five because the kindly owner recognised a lost soul with too many options and took me on a grand tour of the shop, culminating in an extensive chat on the nature of constructing a bookshop and acquisitions, and how she could tell if she wanted to read a book or not. Basically all of the things you’ll find here on this podcast, but what I loved about it is this: the shelves are immaculate. The biography section is incredible. And on my birthday, they gave me a free tote bag because it was five books after all.
Alex
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This podcast is created and produced by me, Alexandra Pierce. The music is called Loopster, by Kevin MacLeod; you can find the attribution at paperdefiance.com.
Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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